Climate change increases sand and dust in the atmosphere of areas such as Spain and Latin America

The storms of sand and dust, on the rise due to desertification and climate change, increased in 2022 compared to 2021 and increased the concentrations of these particles in the atmosphere in areas such as Spain either South America and Central, the World Meteorological Organization indicated today.

These concentrations also increased in the Red Sea, the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian Plateau, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian subcontinent, the Tarim Basin in northwest China or the central Atlantic that separates the Caribbean from West Africa, noted the annual report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on particles in the atmosphere.

Many of the emissions of these particles come from desert areas in those same areas, such as the deserts in North Africa (Sahara), the Middle East, Iran and northwest China, the document stressed.

“Every year, about 2,000 tons of dust enter the atmosphere, darkening the skies and reducing air quality in regions thousands of kilometers away,” The WMO warned, remembering that this has effects on economies, ecosystems, and the climate.

Although part of this process is natural, poor management of water and soil by man also influences it, according to the UN environmental agency, which predicts an increase in these concentrations of particles throughout this century, in parallel to global warming.

The report cites as areas especially affected by high concentrations of sand and dust places such as the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, parts of Iran, the Mesopotamian plains of Iraq, eastern Syria and the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Gulf. Persian.

Equally vulnerable areas, as they are passageways for these particles, are, among others, the Mediterranean basin, South America, or East Asia (including Japan and the Korean Peninsula), as well as the Caribbean, which in 2022 received sand and dust from West Africa.

The WMO prepares the report with data from four networks measuring particles in the atmosphere, with centers in Barcelona (Spain), Beijing, Bridgetown (capital of the Caribbean archipelago of Barbados) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).